Media day - what to expect

There's been a surprising amount of announcements on Media Day Eve, leading some to suggest that there's a big surprise on the cards for Thursday,

What we've learned for sure today:

• Team Halfords is no more, as Team Dynamics will be running with a sleek black look
  
• Motorbase will be known as Airwaves BMW, which I'm sure Tim Harvey or Ben Edwards will misstate as "Airbase" at least once this season
  
• Hughes/KWR can't make it to the Media Day
  

What's highly likely

• Alan Morrison as the second Arena driver
  
• Pinkney to join Shedden at Dynamics
  
• Steve Rider to anchor ITV's coverage
  

Rumour rumour...

• One or two Astra Coupés to return run by a well-known Clio team featuring at an established Clio Cup front-runner
  
• Still some suggesting there's a "surprise" reveal scheduled...
  

Newslets 22/11/08

• Turns out the Vaulkhards own those Lacettis, and Robertshaw won't be running them in '09
• They might, however, return to run Alan Taylor again
• Meanwhile, those Lacettis are up for sale and Harry isn't sure what next season will bring
  
• Jason Hughes hopes to wheel out a second MG for '09
• TCT reports the Arena Ford Focus saloon project looks actually set to run; and they expect Chilton to be heading up the team
• Meanwhile Steve Neal has again expressed his desire for James Thompson to join Team Dynamics. With N-Technology unlikely to return to the WTCC could it happen?
• And finally, over in Spain, Neal, Giovanardi and Jordan Jr have been testing their Vectras
  

Newslets 17/11/08

• Has Liam McMillan bought Huffy's 2008 Chevvy?
• CWCZR (CVR? CZR? CWCVCZR?) are on course to pick up their first Leon next month. Yes it's a rehash of what they previously announced; but it's off-season and also a way to dissuade those naysayers.
• Crash.net reveals their readers' rankings for the best 2008 BTCC drivers. No real surprises.
• Those Volvo/Plato rumours... obviously there's never any chance ToCA will financially support any entry, but of course they'll "be involved" in any such plans.
• Dave Pinkney tested a TD Civic and liked it.
  

Newslets

Isn't off-season rubbish? Anyway, here's an attempt at a summary of BTCC-related news and rumours from the last week or so:

• Andy Jordan will be testing his new Vectra in Spain later this month.
  
• 2008 review DVD is out today - all 467 minutes of it. Let's hope there's no cock-up with the disc pressing this time.
  
• Those Ford/Arena rumours are back again
  
• BTCC is safe on ITV until 2010
  

RAC test van der Ende

Joining Motorbase at Brands today was Team RAC, and they elected to give Dutchman Ricardo van der Ende a run, and he was reportedly quicker than Stephen Jelley's pole run. I'm not sure lapping quicker than Jelley is much to be excited about; but it's good to see Dick Bennetts considering the options for a third car.

Ricardo won the Formula Ford Festival way back in '99, but had a patchy career since then. his best results have come in the Dutch Samsung BMW 130i cup, finishing runner up in '06 and winning the following season.

Motorbase testing

Tim Harvey was invited by Motorbase to test one of their cars at Brands today; and he was joined by a man who should have been in the BTCC well before now, Jonny Adam. Tomorrow (Weds) they'll give SEAT Eurocup driver James Nash a run, alongside GT and Porsche veteran Michael Caine. Touring Car Times reports Motorbase want to keep both '08 drivers on if possible, so fingers crossed for a third car.

Clyde Valley/Carbon Zero Racing 3rd car?

The team have yet to pick up their actual racecars, but there's already talk of a third machine for the Scottish squad:

The team plans to run two Seat Leon Cupra racecars on bio fuel and, if funding can be secured, introduce a third car with an engine which will run on bio-methane - a waste gas more harmful than CO2 but when burnt releases near zero CO2.

http://www.eemsonline.co.uk/news/20-06-08_2

Clyde Valley Racing for real

After all their "hype" (which was, to be fair, just a lot a sponsor proposal material available for all to see on the interweb hyped up by numerous rumourmongers on the forums) Clyde Valley Racing (aka Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing) look set to go in 2009.

According to Dan Eaves, both he and title sponsor Cartridge World have a two year deal in place, and press releases suggest the team will collect their SEAT Leons in December '08 and January '09. (This suggests they have agreements in place to purchase ex-WTCC cars, as they finish their season in late November). Second driver will be India's "premier racing driver" [sic] Phiroze Bilimoria (occasional GT racer, was due to partner Boardman at Edenbridge in the 2003 BTCC season).